Wonder Workshop Children's Museum on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 300

We talk with Katie Seal from Wonder Workshop Children’s Museum about how hands-on play builds real community ties in Manhattan and why Grow Green Match Day feels like a town-wide reunion. Student guest Zake brings soul food history to the table and helps us see the museum’s signature fundraiser as culture, connection, and learning not just a meal. 
• gratitude for Grow Green Match Day and donors 
• Wonder Workshop’s 30+ year mission of hands-on learning and play 
• Richard Pitts’ legacy of inclusion and community connection 
• the Soul Food Dinner tradition and its 25-year history 
• the new Soul Food Summer Bash and what families can expect 
• Zake on soul food as heritage tied to the Great Migration 
• favorite dishes from mac and cheese to collard greens plus the mystery of hog cheese 
• why the fundraiser supports the museum’s long-term survival 
• museum updates including rising attendance and summer camp prep 
Tickets will go on sale in a couple of weeks. Just go to our website, it’ll be on there. Wonderworkshop.org is the website.

GMCF

CFAs

Transcript

Sponsor And Segment Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on news radio KMAN. Segment number three on this uh 27th day of April on the GMCF Community Hour. I'm Dave Lewis. Katie Seal is joining us today. She is the executive director of the Wonder Workshop Children's Museum. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Yeah, thanks for having us today.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

You had a good day uh last week with uh Grow Green.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

We did, and I'm so glad you brought that up because I wanted to tell all of our donors thank you so much because it was just a fantastic day of bringing community together and Wonder Workshop had a great day.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I don't know anybody didn't have a great day. I mean, if you walked out with a bunk cake, you had a great day. It didn't take much, you know. Um, but but just you know, and you know, you were one of the 40 that were there uh seated with uh, you know, the opportunity to to share stories with people. And I think that that was a really neat opportunity to to to to meet people that were were were there. And it was just such a fun atmosphere.

Wonder Workshop Mission And Legacy

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Yeah, it it always is every year. The GMCF does a great job of bringing community together and having that opportunity to meet people in person and talk about your mission and make new friends. It's a great time.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Let's transition into the mission of the Wonder Workshop. Tell me.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Well, um, we have been around for over 30 years trying to bring hands-on um learning and play opportunities for children and families in the Manhattan community.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

I uh I remember when Richard started this, and I was like going, I'm, you know, this this sounds like a nice thing. And then my daughter got involved a little bit later on, and and this was, you know, she was there before and after we lost her mom, and you know, it's just like that, this is even a better thing. And then to continue that legacy, when my daughter was teaching over in Junction City, she was teaching music, and she had Richard come over and uh do some some drumming and storytelling. As, you know, there's no greater storyteller in the history of Manhattan than Richard Pitts.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

I completely agree.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

And it just totally uh, you know, you know strengthened my love for for the organization. And uh, I'm glad you had such a great day on Grow Green Match Day last week.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Yeah. Well, I think that's one of Wonder Workshop's biggest um values is that community. Um Richard set the pace for it a long time ago about you know, bringing people in, making connections, making people feel included. So yeah, I'm glad happy to carry it on.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Well, he's one of my all-time favorite Manhattanites.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Me too.

Soul Food Summer Bash Announced

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yeah, he's a he's a good one. Well, you have had the soul food dinner for years. It's been a big fundraiser for you, and it's been a pot or a fall. And it's typically been uh what, early November, sometime in the fall. But I I I hear you're changing things around.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Yeah, at least this year we're gonna try something new. Okay. Um, so in years past, we've had both the soul food dinner and something we call a summer bash, where we have all the kinds of things you would think of at a summer bash, balloon animals, bounce houses, all that kind of thing. So this year we're gonna try and merge them. Ooh. And create all bring in all the great things about the soul food dinner and then add some really fun kids' activities with it so that hopefully it's just a really fun night for the the whole community to come.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Do we have a date?

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Yes. June 13th.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

June 13th.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

From four to seven. Potter Fall.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Is that a uh what day of the week is it? It's a Saturday.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Okay, Potter Falls, same place. Yep, got plenty of space, plenty of space.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

We'll be doing stuff inside and outside, weather permitting, of course. But um, yeah, well, it'll still include everything that everyone's loved, come to love about this whole food dinner. Um, and just kind of including all that fun summer stuff too.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

How long has this been going on? The Soul Food Dinner.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

I had the same questions. So I talked to uh the former executive director, Richard's wife, and she said 25 years.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Yeah, which I was surprised by. I mean, I've I've lived here with my whole life, but I've been.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

I've been to a few of them because my schedule, I can't always get to all of them, but I always enjoyed it, and the meal's always been pretty good. Yeah, because you got fried chicken and I mean that's just that's not soul food, that's just soul food. That's day food right there. That's a staple of my life.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Yeah, it's good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

You brought a friend along.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

I did.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Zake. Welcome to our show.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Thank you for having me. Tell me about yourself, Zake. Yes, I'm a student here, and as I've been here, I've just been amazed with all the activities that go on. Yes, that build so much community, especially when I found out about uh these events like the soul food dinner. I really didn't think there would be something like this here, and I'm just so happy that there is because soul food is just so important, it's more than a staple for uh black Americans like myself, truly.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Yeah, now you came from Georgia, yes, and via military, of course, uh family military, yes, and and you stuck around here in Kansas, yes, and my family, uh my father, he was in the military and he decided to retire here.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yes, we see that a lot, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Uh-huh. So so what let's let's talk a little bit about a soul food dinner in Georgia and what that might be like, and and maybe you're trying to bring some more of this into what we do here in Manhattan, Kansas, which you know that is a cultural shift for you, I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Truly. But the soul food is still alike uh everywhere because after the Great Migration, these recipes were still carried from the south to the Midwest and the North States. So we have macaroni and cheese, uh collard greens, cornbread, all these great recipes. Smother chicken, not just fried chicken, but smothered chicken, and this is a pretty unique one that you find real deep in the south, but hog cheese. Hog cheese. Yes. Katie even turned her head on that. I've never heard of hog cheese. Yes, it's very unique. It's essentially cooked down pig fat with herbs and spices. It's we used to call that lard. Yes, but the way that my grandparents and so on would make it is just you gotta see it for yourself, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

I okay. Where can I get some hog cheese? I I I I love cheese and I love pork.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

You gotta find you gotta uh look at um the butcher shops hole in the walls, yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Yeah. So when did were you a child when you moved to this area with the military? Yes. Um in grade school, yes. And and correct me if I'm wrong in my assumption here, um, what we call a soul food dinner here, that is a societal thing. That is such a social thing in the South, is it not?

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Truly, this is where we build connections, strengthen uh family connections as well, and just bond on life, essentially, especially with these recipes, because not everybody makes their uh baked mac and cheese the same or fries their chicken the same. Some may use lard, some may use uh a cooking oil, and so on.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

What do you put on top of your um your cornbread? It says a lot about a person right here.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Truly, me, I prefer honey. Some uh prefer a bunch of butter, but honey, I feel like that's where it's at. Katie, what do you put on cornbread?

SPEAKER_02 8:43

I'm butter.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah, butter and then maple syrup. Oh, I'll have to try that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I just I don't know why we did that, but that's what we did on the you know on the farm. And and we were far away from soul food in the center of Kansas growing up on a farm, but but we had a lot of cornbread, and I love, love good magga cheese. Now, the smothered chicken. The smothered chicken that you refer to, what what is that like? What's it what's composed of that? Or what's it composed of?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

See that one is it's all right to say you don't know. Good, because that's something that my grandmother only knows. She hasn't shared that one yet.

Why The Fundraiser Matters

SPEAKER_00 9:25

She hasn't shared that? You got some work to do there, y'all know. Truly. I'll have to beg for that one. Yeah. Well, Katie, this is a a big fun. This is your principal fundraiser of the year. You know, Girl Green Match Day is big. We know that, and we had great success with this. But this is this is essential to the existence of the Wonder Workshop.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

It is. And and kind of similar to what Zake was saying, it's it even goes beyond that fundraiser. Um, it's that time for community and um cultural preservation and all of educational experiences for the community and all of that. So it is our signature event. Um, we hope a lot of people come out and and join with us. We hope that the combining it, it's the we're calling it the Soul Food Summer Bash. So we're hoping that you know those kids' events will bring those families and um we're hoping it's just a great time to to bring the community together.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

What time is it start?

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Four o'clock.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

June 13th, four o'clock.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Okay. Potwarf Hall. How do I get tickets?

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Tickets will go on sale in a couple of weeks. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yep. Just go to your website.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Go to our website, it'll be on there, and I'll be, of course, you know, marketing on social media and all that.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Wonderworkshop.org is the website.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

That's right.

Museum Growth And Summer Plans

SPEAKER_00 10:39

What else do we need to know about that? What's new about the workshop itself, the museum?

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Oh my gosh, we've had a great year. So I I started last May, coming up on our my first year, um, but we've doubled attendance at so many of our programs. We are um we're just hitting our head on the roof of what we're able to do space-wise. So um it's really been a fantastic year. We're getting ready to rev up for summer camp.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

We're it's just it's all good things right now.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

So I think I talked to you last time we talked, I talked about I need to come down and get my picture taken in the big chair.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Yes, and I need to do that. We just had some volunteers from the United Way and Leadership Manhattan come and clean everything up for the spring cleaning.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Oh man, that's nice.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Perfect timing. Yeah, yeah, come on down.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Cool. And you're right there on is it fourth street?

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Right there on 4th Street across from the Hilton Garden.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Yeah, that's right, 506 South Fourth.

unknown 11:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Awesome. Well, you'd make Richard proud.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Oh, well, thank you. Zake.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I bet. Did you ever meet Richard?

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Unfortunately, I did not, but with his wife, and she's an amazing sister.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

He's just, she's just wonderful. And and I know Richard would be really excited to have you on board in in this capacity. I bet you guys would have a lot of stories to tell. He would milk you for information and he would shower you with love. That's what the man did, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 11:59

It is.

Tickets Info And Closing

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Yeah, absolutely. Zake, good to have you in. Thank you for having me. Hope to have you back sometime. Yes. I don't know what, but you know, maybe next year. Katie, always a pleasure to have you.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Thank you, Dave. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

This is uh, let's see, the Wonder Workshop Children's Museum. Wonderworkshop.org is the website, and that's where at some point you'll be able to uh get locked in and get your tickets and be looking for social media uh posts that uh you'll be able to get your tickets through that as well. And I think I might be able to attend.

unknown 12:32

Yay!

SPEAKER_00 12:32

There's something pending. Okay, but I think I might be able to attend. We need to take a break, I'm being told, back uh back at the radio station at HQ at the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN. You see, Gwen, I can't see you when I'm looking at my guests. Sorry. She wants a picture. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

Okay, she wants a picture.